Albany County is planning to launch a terrorism task force and is seeking $175,000 from the Wyoming Office of Homeland Security to achieve it. The county says the money will "support the implementation of risk-driven, capabilities-based state homeland security strategies to address capability gaps and sustain existing capabilities.”
County officials also are guarded about what potential threats it is looking to defend against.
Albany County Sheriff Aaron Appelhans told Cowboy State Daily on Thursday that the county is seeking special tactical response training, emergency communications equipment, armored personnel protection and other equipment "for adaptive environments" and threats.
"Albany County has many areas of critical infrastructure in our vast jurisdiction that we want to be fully prepared to protect and respond to in the event of an incident," Applehans wrote. "There is no threat to our citizens or critical infrastructure in Albany County at this time, which is the best time to train and equip a team.
"It would be irresponsible of the Sheriff's Office to respond to an event ill-prepared and in our line of work. It is our responsibility to be prepared to respond to everything regardless of the likelihood of an incident occurring."
Appelhans said the county cooperated with Homeland Security and FEMA to conduct a “threat and hazard identification and risk assessment” in 2023. That assessment, he said, revealed the county has work to do to become better prepared for the potential of severe attacks by bad actors in the future.
“Albany County has gaps in planning, training, and equipment in preventing and responding to larger events (ex. attacks, casualties, threats to critical infrastructure),” he said. “The Albany County Sheriff’s Office is requesting funding from the Wyoming Department of Homeland Security to address gaps identified in our threat assessment.”
FEMA’s website includes a list of “authorized equipment” permitted through the grant. This includes items like firefighting facemasks, explosive mitigation devices and even tools to capture wild animals.
The grant application for $175,000 is being sent to the Wyoming Office of Homeland Security, which is accepting applications through the end of September. Local jurisdictions can request money “to support the implementation of risk-driven, capabilities-based state homeland security strategies to address capability gaps and sustain existing capabilities,” according to the agency’s website.
FEMA’s website requires grant applicants to present information such as the applicant’s “mission statement,” weaknesses identified in the threat assessment and an “investment justification” form.
Real Threat
Albany County Commissioner Pete Gosar told Cowboy State Daily that despite terrorism seeming like a distant concern, it represents a very real threat in Wyoming. The county’s intention is to be proactive rather than reactive to such threats.
“As we’ve seen recently, that might be misplaced assumptions,” he said of those unconcerned by potential terror attacks. “I think it’s a requirement and just to make sure that we’re covering all our bases and to make sure we’ve thought about it before something happens and we know how to respond to it.
“I think you should always be prepared and that’s the best money spent."
Wyoming’s Homeland Security site warns that places of worship are at particularly high risk as targets. It specifically mentions the use of “physical security enhancements and activities” to protect attendees at a religious site.
Gosar said receiving the requested money is not a given. He acknowledged Congress’ continued slashing of the federal budget as a potential factor that could prevent grant distribution.
“With reduced federal funding across the board it seems, they may or may not have the funding available even if they thought it was a priority,” he said. “I guess we’ll wait and see how it goes.”
Gosar said he hopes the application sends a strong message to those looking to do harm in Albany County that they will be stopped.
“It’s the same message we try to present in everything we do in Albany County is we’re going to try to be ahead of the curve and we’re going to try to anticipate how to do the work that the Albany County voters hired us to do,” Gosar said.
Launching the task force is not intended to frighten the people of Albany County but to reassure them.
“We don’t want to scare the people of Albany County that there are any threats. I don’t know of any,” he said. “You hope that it never happens, you hope that you never need the terrorism task force, but it’s nice to have it if we do need it."
Bigger and Better
Wyoming Homeland Security warns residents on its website that terrorism is possible in the state due to the high prevalence of crucial government and military installations, such as Cheyenne’s F.E. Warren Air Force Base. It reminds residents to remain vigilant for “suspicious activity” to prevent possible attacks.
“You can help to prevent terrorist attacks by reporting certain activities, especially when these activities occur at or near key facilities such as government, military, utility, or other high-profile sites,” the site reads.
Katelyn Conn, a spokeswoman for the Wyoming Office of Homeland Security, confirmed that Albany County applied for grant funds for a counterterrorism task force but said she was limited in what she could discuss because the application process is competitive.
Conn said the state office works closely with state, federal and local partners to stay on guard against terrorism through its Fusion Center, which analyzes and responds to threats.
“These partnerships allow us to share intelligence, conduct continuous threat assessments, and coordinate our preparedness efforts across the state,” Conn said. “It involves a lot of proactive training and exercises with first responders so Wyoming can be prepared for any threat, including terrorism.”
The grant application comes as other jurisdictions throughout the state are also scaling up their law enforcement operations.
Laramie County Sheriff Brian Kozak told Cowboy State Daily this month his office is purchasing two high-tech, remote-controlled robots that could help save first responders during dangerous and high-risk situations. The rugged design of the bots features oversized wheels, making them easy to toss into situations and to take falls, tumbles and blows.
Kozak told Cowboy State Daily this month the bots make police activities safer for all involved.
“We don’t want to be the ones forcing someone to use deadly force on ourselves or on a deputy,” Kozak said. “We want to keep the deputies back at a distance so we can have the robot go in and actually make contact with that person.”
"It’s just a safer way of doing it so the person doesn’t feel threatened by the deputy,” he added.
FBI Director Kash Patel said during a House hearing this week he wants to see drones used to fight drug trafficking on reservations, such as the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming.
“What we’ve found is, that most of these lands can be assisted by our counter UAS (unmanned aerial systems) program – our drone capabilities,” Patel said. “And we’re going to do it. Because what’s happening is the Mexican drug cartels are literally flying overhead, dropping their cargo — their narcotics — onto this land where no one’s looking.”
Jackson Walker can be reached at walker@cowboystatedaily.com.
